California Pilot Car Requirements

ROUTE-CLASS DEPENDENT — 12'0" is the YELLOW/GREEN figure only, and the trigger is EXCLUSIVE: a load measuring exactly 12'0" needs NO pilot car on Yellow or Green. The first pilot car comes earlier on narrower routes — over 11'0" on BLUE, over 10'0" on BROWN. Note direction too: TPM sec. 502.6.3.2 — "When one pilot car is required, the pilot car shall follow the escorted vehicle on conventional highways having four or more lanes, divided highways, and freeways." Yellow routes ARE multilane freeways, so the single car on a Yellow route is a CHASE, not a lead. (Single-trip Pilot Car Map legend = TPM Ch. 5 Table 1.)

ROUTE-CLASS DEPENDENT — 14'0" is the GREEN route figure only, and it is EXCLUSIVE: at exactly 14'0" a Green route still needs only ONE car. The second car comes earlier on narrower routes (over 13'0" on BLUE, over 12'0" on BROWN) and later on YELLOW (over 15'0"). TPM sec. 502.6 Note 2: "The maximum number of pilot cars is two (2) on yellow, green, blue, and brown routes." When two are required, sec. 502.6.3.2: "one pilot car precedes, and the other follows the escorted vehicle."

UNVERIFIED AT 12'0" — no Caltrans source sets 12'0" as a daylight trigger; this number corresponds to nothing and is retained only so the band is not silently empty. What TPM sec. 502.4 actually says, by route colour: YELLOW — "All permit vehicles/loads are authorized travel 24/7 until the loaded width exceeds 16' 0"." GREEN — "All permit vehicles/loads are authorized travel during hours of darkness until the loaded width exceeds 14' 0". When the loaded width exceeds 14' 0", travel during hours of darkness is not authorized." BLUE and BROWN — "Hours of Darkness: Travel during hours of darkness is not authorized" (weekend travel Sat/Sun from one-half hour prior to sunrise to 12 noon). All of those are conditioned on a pilot car being required; with no pilot car, "Travel is authorized 24/7." Separately: "In the urban areas of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento, curfew conditions shall apply as indicated on the curfew maps when the loaded width exceeds 10' 0"." Confirm your route colour with Caltrans Transportation Permits before relying on this.